Dear TT Faculty members,

The parties met for a fourth bargaining session on October 8th, 2025. Although the parties have not yet exchanged proposals for Article VI (Governance), Article IX (Faculty Workload), Article XII (Salary), or Article XIII (Medical Benefits), it is becoming increasingly clear that the administration is attempting to use a combination of the University’s financial challenges and its need to comply with SB 1 as an excuse for taking the “maximalist” approach to negotiations formerly used by the Lester Lefton/Bob Frank administration in an attempt to weaken the union.  

While the administration has agreed to accept some minor, housekeeping edits to various articles, to date, they have flat out rejected every substantive proposal that KSUFA has made. The administration’s October 8th counterproposal on Article V (Nondiscrimination) simply deleted all of the changes we had proposed on September 24th and stuck with existing language. This was disappointing, as the administration’s team had seem favorably disposed to at least the spirit of the language (especially on anti-bullying) that we had proposed. Meanwhile, the administration’s October 8th counterproposal on Article X (Retrenchment) was identical to their initial proposal to simply delete the entire article and outright rejected KSUFA’s proposal to incorporate by reference into the CBA what will be a new University policy on retrenchment required by SB 1. Other important policies concerning terms and conditions of Faculty employment (including the Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion policies, the Workload policy, the policy on FPILs, and Faculty Senate’s Charter and Bylaws) are incorporated by reference into the CBA making them enforceable through the grievance process. KSUFA fears that the administration’s refusal to incorporate the new retrenchment policy into the CBA evidences a desire to be able to treat the new policy as a mere “guideline” to be ignored whenever convenient. KSUFA will continue its efforts to incorporate the new policy into the CBA and ensure that it is enforceable through the grievance process.

KSUFA’s analysis of the administration’s September 24th proposal on Article III (Management Rights) has also raised serious red flags. As we interpret the proposal, the language proposed would give the administration the unilateral powers:

• to set aside provisions of the CBA or of any policies, handbooks, or other documents incorporated therein and
• to decide that specific terms and conditions of employment are not mandatory subjects of bargaining (including ones that otherwise would be)

whenever, in its unilateral judgment, the administration believes that doing so would enhance its ability to comply with State law. If our interpretation is correct, what they are proposing is something that would almost completely undermine our collective bargaining rights. At the October 8th session, we asked specific questions on the record about these apparent implications of their proposal. Their team was not in a position to answer most of our questions, but promised to communicate them to those who were. We await their responses.  

It was bad enough that SB 1 eroded our collective bargaining rights by eliminating our right to strike and expanding the list of policies affecting terms and conditions of Faculty employment that are not appropriate subjects for bargaining. That the administration would be asking us to agree in these negotiations to further erode our collective bargaining rights is outrageous. Needless to say, our team intends to hold strong at the table.

KSUFA has created a section of our website (https://ksufa.org/index.php/tenure-track-unit/negotiations-2025) dedicated to the TT negotiations. This section contains links to all of the negotiation updates we have sent to our members and links to all proposals on all articles made by either party. From our homepage (https://ksufa.org), you can find the link to the negotiation update both under the TT-Unit drop down menu at the top of the page or just below the Surviving SB 1 section of the homepage.

Although the MOU extending the CBA expires on December 31, 2025, the provisions of the CBA will remain in full force and effect until a successor contract is ratified.

If you have any questions or concerns about negotiations, please don’t hesitate to contact me (dsmith@ksufa.org).

Sincerely,

Deborah Smith

President, KSUFA

Chief Negotiator, TT-Unit